Hannah Gersen

I'm a freelance writer, based in New York City. I write fiction, reviews, and criticism. I also edit dispatches for The Common, a literary magazine based in Amherst, Massachusetts. You can find links to my recent publications on this site, as well as photographs and artwork. Email me at:
contact[at]hannahgersen[dot]com

The Tale of a ‘Fashion Terrorist’

THE novelist Alex Gilvarry was in the midst of a fashion emergency. Perusing the racks of Oak, a trendy boutique in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, he looked for a sweater to cover up a mustard stain on his plaid shirt. In a few hours, he would speak to M.F.A. students at Hunter College, his alma mater, and he didn’t want to look like a slob.

(Continued at The New York Times)

Two Stories about Wall Street

For The Millions:

After a couple days of hemming and hawing, I decided to join the protesters of Occupy Wall Street. I was hesitant to go because until very recently, I worked as an administrative assistant at a prominent Wall Street law firm. I didn’t know how, in good conscience, I could rail against The Man when my primary responsibility had once been to keep track of incoming phone calls from Goldman Sachs. But then I heard one of the protest’s organizers on the radio saying that the Occupy movement wasn’t against capitalism, corporations, or even big banking. He was for income equality. And democracy. The reporter pressed him to be more specific, but he refused.

“Why do they have to be more specific?” I yelled at the radio. “Isn’t it obvious why they’re upset?”

(Continued…)

Reading Women

Thoughts on Jamaica Kincaid’s Autobiography of My Mother for Granta.com

Voices From Japan

Talking with Roland Kelts about a special English-language edition of the Japanese literary magazine, Monkey Business